NOAA Fisheries Managed Areas Prototype for Conservation Atlas

A sample of marine areas managed by NOAA Fisheries, intended to inform the development of the America the Beautiful Conservation and Stewardship Atlas. The dataset provides examples of broad-scale management measures affecting commercial and recreational fishing. It was last updated on 2026-04 11 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Mapping fishery management authority zones based on NOAA's sample areas.
• Analyzing the spatial footprint of broad-scale fishing regulations mentioned in the description.
• Informing the development of conservation atlases using prototype geospatial data.
• Studying the relationship between managed areas and commercial/recreational fishing activities.

Strengths

• Data originates from the authoritative NOAA Fisheries agency.
• Serves as a direct input for the America the Beautiful Conservation and Stewardship Atlas.
• Last updated on 2026-04-11, indicating recent maintenance.

Limitations

• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Likely compiled from NOAA Fisheries management records.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-11.

Geography

Likely includes marine areas under U.S. jurisdiction where NOAA Fisheries is the managing authority.